Billy is bad - he continues to play Ferguson even though he's simply not up to it! Although he did bench him in the 2nd half tonight...

And Russ just doesn't have the smarts. As I've said previously, he's not a first option on a championship team. Neither is PG by the way - he's not close.

With a healthy Robes the team could have easily got to 50+ wins, and the 3rd seed. Since he went down it's been like a gunshot wound to the gut. I would have preferred a head shot... This has been a long, painful season.

The tanking culture is getting ridiculous. When a high lottery pick gives you the chance to seriously upgrade 20% of your starting lineup, the incentive to give up is too big.

They need to change the rules.

The tanking issue actually seems to be less this year than some previous years. But here are some solutions:

The easiest solution would be to make the entire lottery a lottery rather than just the top 3 picks. Right now teams know that even if they don't win the lottery, they still will get a pick in a certain range. But if nothing is guaranteed, there is a lot less incentive for teams to tank.

Another one I've seen talked about is your position in the draft being tied to a different team. Rather than picking based on draft order from the most recent season, the team with the worst record at the end of the 2017-18 season would get first pick of the team they think will have the worst record the following season, and the team with the second worst record would get second pick of teams and so on. So the draft order would be determined in reverse order based on records of the teams that you had tied your draft fate to. The more you think about it, the more appealing it is, but it would be messy to implement as it effectively defers your shiteness a year.

The tanking culture is getting ridiculous. When a high lottery pick gives you the chance to seriously upgrade 20% of your starting lineup, the incentive to give up is too big.

They need to change the rules.

The tanking issue actually seems to be less this year than some previous years. But here are some solutions:

The easiest solution would be to make the entire lottery a lottery rather than just the top 3 picks. Right now teams know that even if they don't win the lottery, they still will get a pick in a certain range. But if nothing is guaranteed, there is a lot less incentive for teams to tank.

Another one I've seen talked about is your position in the draft being tied to a different team. Rather than picking based on draft order from the most recent season, the team with the worst record at the end of the 2017-18 season would get first pick of the team they think will have the worst record the following season, and the team with the second worst record would get second pick of teams and so on. So the draft order would be determined in reverse order based on records of the teams that you had tied your draft fate to. The more you think about it, the more appealing it is, but it would be messy to implement as it effectively defers your shiteness a year.

The whole idea of the draft is to help struggling teams. So the league deserves to see some benefit from having foregone the chance to pick the best players. That benefit should be improved play by the struggling team the year after they get the one of the top 6 or 8 draft picks

So, if their record doesn't improve by a league-decided no. Of wins corresponding to their prior draft position, then they should be handicapped the requisite amount in the next year's draft.

It might not be fair in the sense that draft picks don't always even contribute in year 1, but it's absurd that the league should continue to subsidise failing teams, who become more and more dependent on high draft positions, like crack addicts.

That way, the teams who don't tank have a better chance of leapfrogging over some of the poorer teams and there are repercussions for poor management/recruitment/coaching.

The tanking culture is getting ridiculous. When a high lottery pick gives you the chance to seriously upgrade 20% of your starting lineup, the incentive to give up is too big.

They need to change the rules.

It is. Coupled with the "super team" culture kinda making far to much of the league junk.

Don't really see it myself, like any league there are good, average and bad teams and as goeagles has already said tanking has not been an especially big problem this season unlike in recent seasons past.

On any given night there are at least 18 teams in the league worth watching, 10 playoff caliber teams in the western conference and some young teams trying to figure it out in Phoenix, Sacramento and LA Lakers all of whom can be fun to watch. The East is the East but you've got the Sixers who haven't made the playoffs in 6 years are a genuine dark horse to make the finals this season and could be a contender for years to come.

OKC clinch a playoff spot in Miami. Nice win, didn't see it but they shot 38 free throws - wonder if the Heat have a right to be pissed off at the officiating?

They can still take 4th spot, though I'm not 100% sure of the permuations. They obviously need to beat Memphis & hope Utah lose at least one (probable) but not sure of the tie breaker situation vs the Pels & Spurs and it could possibly be any one, two or all three of them tied.

Edit - apparently it can't be all 4 tied as the Spurs & Pels are playing each other next.

I read if it's a 3 way OKC/Utah/Spurs tie then OKC would get 4th, but dunno about OKC/Utah/Pels

OKC clinch a playoff spot in Miami. Nice win, didn't see it but they shot 38 free throws - wonder if the Heat have a right to be pissed off at the officiating?

They can still take 4th spot, though I'm not 100% sure of the permuations. They obviously need to beat Memphis & hope Utah lose at least one (probable) but not sure of the tie breaker situation vs the Pels & Spurs and it could possibly be any one, two or all three of them tied.

Edit - apparently it can't be all 4 tied as the Spurs & Pels are playing each other next.

I read if it's a 3 way OKC/Utah/Spurs tie then OKC would get 4th, but dunno about OKC/Utah/Pels

I'd heard that OKC lose all of the tie-breaker scenarios. I get the feeling that an OKC v Warriors first round match up is on the cards. It might not be a bad time to play the Warriors with Curry MIA.

OKC clinch a playoff spot in Miami. Nice win, didn't see it but they shot 38 free throws - wonder if the Heat have a right to be pissed off at the officiating?

They can still take 4th spot, though I'm not 100% sure of the permuations. They obviously need to beat Memphis & hope Utah lose at least one (probable) but not sure of the tie breaker situation vs the Pels & Spurs and it could possibly be any one, two or all three of them tied.

Edit - apparently it can't be all 4 tied as the Spurs & Pels are playing each other next.

I read if it's a 3 way OKC/Utah/Spurs tie then OKC would get 4th, but dunno about OKC/Utah/Pels

I'd heard that OKC lose all of the tie-breaker scenarios. I get the feeling that an OKC v Warriors first round match up is on the cards. It might not be a bad time to play the Warriors with Curry MIA.

I think they only win a head to head tie breaker with Utah, but as it's likely to be a 3 way tie breaker which includes Utah that benefits them also.

So Washington throws the game to face Toronto rather than Boston in the playoffs (better matchup?) against an Orlando team with half its usual starters.

Frank Vogel, trying to save his job, accepts the gift. Gives Orlando a facile win which will likely take them out of contention for the 3rd pick. The only bad team not actively tanking is the one in most need of a high pick. It's become a clowncar franchise.